The number of Venezuelans who participated in the election for an all-powerful constituent assembly was tampered with - off by at least 1 million votes - in an official count, the head of a voting technology company asserted Wednesday, a finding certain to sow further discord over the super-body that has generated months of nationwide protests. Smartmatic CEO Antonio Mugica said results recorded by his systems and those reported by Venezuela's National Electoral Council indicate "without any doubt" that official turnout figure of more than 8 million participants was manipulated.

Our automated election system is designed to make it evident when results are manipulated, however, there must be people auditing the system and watching for that evidence. During the National Constituent Assembly elections there were no auditors from the opposition parties as they did not want to participate.

Thus, at best Mugica and Smartmatic can warn that irregularities might have occurred, since no one from the opposition was there to audit the final tallies and report any potential inconsistencies.

Since no opposition auditors were there, no evidence has been provided that such irregularities occurred. Neither AP's article nor Mugica's full statement provide any evidence or explanation as to how Smartmatic "estimated" the final count regarding participation was off by "one million votes." Mugica doesn't even explain whether it was one million more than reported, or one million less.

Smartmatic either failed to reveal information it has regarding the final count, or has simply lied on behalf of the Venezuelan opposition and the powerful foreign interests sponsoring it from Washington, London, and Brussels.

This latest announcement, absent of any evidence to substantiate these accusations, calls into question Smartmatic's professionalism, ethics, and impartiality. Other nations considering Smartmatic machines must consider the possibility that the company's CEO may attempt to use his machines and their role in tallying votes to manipulate their internal politics as well.

This announcement also once again calls the Western media into question for failing to note the very obvious inconsistencies between Mugica's conclusions and the lack of evidence provided to substantiate them.